Im a long time fan of Dr. Laura. A decade ago, as a new wife and mother, I would often listen to her show and keep it on while I went about my day taking care of a newborn and getting used to being a wife and mother. As the years went by, I would pick her up on a satellite network and listen while sitting in the carpool waiting to pick up my son after school. I often agreed and other times disagreed with the responses she gave to her callers. But I enjoyed listening to the request for advice and tried to anticipate her answers before she gave them.

I always admired the way with which she just unapologetically told it like it is. She didnt hesitate to tell you that life is too short to stick your kids in daycare from cradle to the school years while you go pursue your career, especially if you could at all avoid living without that second income. I remember agreeing wholeheartedly while listening to Dr. Laura tell one lady that if she was going to have a child, she needed not to treat it as just another possession- spitting it out of her body and sticking it in daycare from 7am to 8pm, but still giving birth to it just so you could say you had one that if she was going to make the choice to have a baby, then to run with it the whole 9 yards and make the choice to actually raise it. And even while agreeing, I had to cringe a little because I knew the howls that would follow.

Some of the calls stood out to me and 6 or 7 years later I remember one lady who was a longtime fan of Dr. Lauras calling in and with tears in her voice thanking Dr. Laura for being willing to make the politically incorrect statements. She said her stance on motherhood changed after listening to Dr. Laura for a few years and when she had her own daughter she decided to stay at home while making the financial adjustments and sacrifices necessary in order to do so. Her voice got more and more shaky until she told Dr. Laura that her little girl had recently just died in a pedestrian/car accident. Yet, she was still able to thank Dr. Laura for that advice because she knew that she had been able to spend every single moment possible with that little girl. She didnt live with regrets knowing that she had not put her child in daycare, like most of her friends, and not seeing her but briefly in the morning and a couple of hours in the evening before bed. Her daughter had quality of life, if not quantity, and she would be able to live the rest of her life thankful for the decision that she made.

Obviously, this isnt a decision that every woman can make. Many women have no choice and agonize over that every day, wishing that they could stay home with their children. But, I think it is clear that Dr. Laura has always been a strong childrens advocate and always fell on the side of what would be the most ideal situation for any child and gave her advice and opinion accordingly.

She didnt hesitate to tell wives that if they would be the kind of women that their husbands craved to come home to after work, most of them wouldnt have to wonder if their spouse was being faithful. Oh, that was a biggie! The Feminazi groups hated that and you could hear the shrill screams for miles! And of course it wouldnt be a cure all for every marriage, because lets face it- some people (men and women alike) are just dogs! But, it definitely made an impact on me and I started trying to make it a habit to make sure that I didnt look like I just crawled out of the bed everyday. She wasnt saying that you had to go the 100 yards but we all know that a little putty and a little paint sure makes a woman what she aint. And as a result, I imagine that thousands upon thousands of husbands all over the country began to look forward to the drive home because their women took Dr. Lauras advice to heart.

The liberal feminists have always hated her and that was a case enough to draw me in and listen to her more frequently because, as we all know, you can tell somebody by their enemies. And if the women I detested, detested Dr. Laura, I knew I was in good company.

She is a Jew who dared to say she doesnt mind Christmas. And as the mother of a soldier, she is a huge supporter of our military and armed forces and dared to call soldiers what they are Warriors. And for those soldier wives who would call into her show distressed, discouraged and defeated she spoke in her no-nonsense way with encouragement and a reminder that they CHOSE to marry a Warrior and it was time to buck up and step up to the plate. And I know for a fact that her attitude and outspokenness made a difference in many soldiers personal lives at home.

In the last few years, I lost track of Dr. Laura. She was no longer on radio stations that I could reach. So, it was with great sadness that I read the news this week that she was resigning from her radio show due to some of the comments she made that many people found offensive. I read article after article and article and became increasingly alarmed with the words I read that she used. And then I found the actual transcripts from the show, listened to it and read them through and, while I would say that it isnt something I would have done or a word that I would agree with should ever be said, it wasnt said in the same manner with which I had originally thought. Context is key. She didnt use the n-word in a degrading manner towards the woman she was speaking, but quoted it as an example as what we hear on HBO or from blacks to other blacks. She wasnt calling anyone a name.

Nevertheless, when you speak out in a politically incorrect manner and in such a provocative way as Dr. Laura has for many, many years, you have to keep above such things and stay a step or two ahead of the game. Because liberals are hypocrites. They will ignore, at all cost, the Harry Reids, the Robert Byrds, the Jesse Jacksons, the Al Sharptons, the Sherrods, and many other notable liberal democrats. Dont believe me? See here.

CNN reports:

While Schlessinger told King on Tuesday that she was still regretful over the incident, she said she feels her freedom of speech rights have been usurped by angry, hateful groups who dont want to debate  they want to eliminate.

I decided it was time to move on to other venues where I could say my piece and not have to live in fear anymore, she said.

Schlessinger plans to expand her internet presence with her website.

Im not retiring. Im not quitting, she said. I feel energized actually, stronger and freer to say the things that I believe need to be said for people in this country. (Watch Video)

She added: The reason is, I want to regain my First Amendment rights. I want to be able to say whats on my mind and in my heart and what I think is helpful and useful without somebody getting angry, some special-interest group deciding this is the time to silence a voice of dissent and attack affiliates, attack sponsors. Im sort of done with that.

The point is, Dr. Laura knew that the blowout would be fierce, context would matter little, and she ended up doing the right thing. She took herself off the air because she didnt want her sponsors and their families to suffer for something she did. Its called self-responsibility and accountability and a lesson that liberals should apply to themselves occasionally. It would certainly be refreshing.

Problem: Dr. Laura is the biggest hypocrite at all. She argues other women should be stay-at-home moms — when she was never a stay-at-home mom. She argues that men should be the family breadwinner — when she’s always been her family’s main breadwinner. She excoriates divorce — and she’s divorced and started dating her current husband while he was still a married man. She abhors premarital sex — while having nude photos of herself on the web, taken by an ex-boyfriend. She tells people to honor their parents — while she cut all ties with her mother, who died alone in an apartment and whose body wasn’t discovered for several months after her death.

She’s a prime example of “do as I say, not as I do,” and has made scads of money off of yelling at people to act in ways she doesn’t. Dr. Laura pretty much makes me sick.

"Were close to the end of the road when we cant even use the N word in a conversation about language where the N word is the subject of the discussion."

Well said.

The whole Chris Rock routine, always bothered the heck out of me. Never understood why that was o.k. but whatever, I guess some folks think swearing is funny. Turn around even quote what he said in his routine, and you a bigot.

I know much, if not all, of what you mentioned happened many decades ago- before her show- and I know she used much of it as example of “what not to do”. I think we’ve all done things we wish we hadn’t and are not proud of. Despite that, does that make what she is saying wrong? Aren’t the words she speaks still true, despite her past?

She has addressed the issue of her mother. Her mother appeared to be mentallly ill and cut off contact with her.

I’ve heard stories like hers many times. I read an article recently about a man with a homeless brother. The brother was clearly mentally ill, but simply refused to be helped, and the law is little help on this point.

I personally knew of a woman who in her seventies cut off all contact with her children and has never met one grandchild. Twenty years ago, she was one of the nicest people you could ever hope to meet.

It’s easy to point fingers, but ultimately, people can’t control their relatives.

Remember a few years ago in Washington, DC, a black city official in the finance office said we have to be “niggardly” with the people’s money. The resulting uproar compelled him to resign/be asked to leave. Why he left his job wasn’t clear, but because he used a legitimate word which sounded similar to the “N” word, politically correct ideology compelled him to “fall on his sword” and leave his job.

Given the finances of Washington, DC, they probably need more people like him. But, he had to be sacrified to political correctness.

I disagree with her much of the time (she’s a big proponent on the radio of freezing out family members — when I prefer to go with Jesus’ methodology of forgiving 70 x 7), but even if I were to agree that her words were true (although they are often so rudely and unthinkingly cruelly proffered that she should probably just keep her mouth shut), the speaker of the words is not someone worthy of admiration. It’s like saying that if Bill Clinton came out against extramarital sex today he’d have some moral authority, because his actions were all in the past.

Dr. Laura (who by the way is a Ph.D. in Physiology, not in any therapeutic or psychological area) is someone who had her fun, lived her life as she wanted to, and then saw a way to make a lot of money telling others, in the harshest and most soundbite-friendly way possible, to live their lives in a totally different way than she did and does. The naked photos were from many decades ago. As far as stay-at-home Mom issue, she chose not to be one and now her children, IIRC, are grown — so telling others to stay-at-home, after her time to do so has passed, is something she really has no moral authority to do (again, it’s like Bill Clinton telling people to give up extramarital sex after beta blockers impact his sexual prowess); her husband remains not a breadwinner (except as her manager); her Mother died recently. And now she’s taking her toys and going home because she’s getting flack on the radio — something Rush Limbaugh, Hannity, and Glenn Beck have managed to weather for years. So she’s spoiled and thin-skinned on top of it all.

Forgive me for being suspicious of Physiology Dr. Laura’s claims that her mother was mentally ill. I believe Dr. Laura’s quote was that her mother “chose to die as she lived” — well, if she was indeed mentally ill, it’s not really a freely made choice and is deserving more of sympathy than self-rightousness from her daughter. How about assigning a personal assistant to check on her well-being (or at least that she’s alive)once in a while? The fact that her mother’s body was decomposing for weeks by the time anyone realized she was dead says more about Dr. Laura’s lack of heart than her mother’s mental illness IMHO.

For someone who touts their their beliefs in forgiveness and Christianity, you certainly seem to reject any value of Redemption. And you know what, if Bill Clinton publicly repented of his behavior, publicly apologized to America and to his family for his devastating sexual behavior and the consequences that this country had to suffer through because of it, and it was clearly a real thing, than I would say that he— above anyone- could be a moral spokesperson on the issue and trumpet from the rooftops of why it’s not the road anyone should travel down.

I haven’t heard more than about 30 minutes of Dr. Laura, and don’t really care for that genre of talk radio. I think her remarks, in context, were reasonable and her point was valid. But she had to know, after any number of clearly illustrative examples (e.g., Imus) that in her business a $hitstorm would result. She’s been taking down millions for years, is 63, and she is choosing a perfectly valid option - taking your marbles and going home. I’m sure she’ll command respectable lecture fees, and will write a book or two - her franchise is still valuable.

What the majority view on this seems to be is that blacks can define the “n-word” as benign when they use it and beyond the pale when non-blacks use it. It’s like the aide to the DC Mayor who was forced to resign 11 years ago for proper use of the term “niggardly”. Never mind that the etymology of “niggardly” clearly shows it was in existence long before the pejorative “n-word” came about. They are two different words which have only a phonetic similarity.

They want to control the language, but they preserve the right to benefit from the inherent ambiguity of language and the artificial distinction they apply to context (i.e., race of the speaker.) This very ignorant approach only separates blacks further from the mainstream of America. But they have every right to do it.

I never said I believed in Christianity — I said I liked Jesus’ formulation. My religous outlook isn’t the issue here. It’s not that I reject redemption — it’s that with regard to Dr. Laura, it’s that, given the way she continues to behave, I reject that she has changed at all. And in general, I reject the idea of a redemption after your time for committing the act has past — it’s very convenient to seek redemption once you can no longer behave badly in certain ways. Augustine probably said it best, but at least he changed his ways while he still could have lived a libertine life - not after his libertine years were past.

Actually I should modify my statement - I reject the idea of redemption followed by public statements that others should behave in a way contrary to your behavior once your time for committing the act that required redemption has past.

No one said there was a time limit on redemption, Brittany. But there’s certainly time limit on being holier than thou and self-righteous after redemption. One would think post-redemption would be a time in which one would exercise humility about human fallibility, given that one would have had first-hand experience about how fallible one was.

Again, if you read my posts, I modified the first post - it’s not a time limit on redemption, it’s a time limit on being how mouthy about the splinter in someone else’s eye when there’s been a beam for a damn long time in your own.

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